Kurt at Regatta Bar - Tues 3/13/12

It was good. Real good. There were moments during this show that were among the most intense experiences I've ever had: food, sex, music or drugs -- this was up there. Thanks guys for a seriously amazing trip. Last night I experienced physical, emotional, and spatial sensations I had never before encountered, and I was straight sober. Didn't smoke or even drink. I had to fight back tears during the first tune (I Need To Know). I've listened to that tune for many years now, during some intense times of my life. Hearing it live was phenomenal. I had chills and goosebumps envelope my entire body to the point that I felt like I was floating and vibrating. And they closed the first set with one of my favorite tunes ever: Gama Band. That groove is killing!!

The second set started off a little slower. Then at the end of the 2nd or 3rd tune they dropped into this UNREAL outro groove in 3/4 and I got insane chills through my entire body again. Every inch of my flesh was tingling and vibrating. I got intense butterflies in my stomach, the way you do before you're going to do something really intense... it was wild and I have no explanation for it. I was just in another universe. The groove and vibe were both so intense.

They closed the 2nd set with Star of Jupiter (aka Bird of Prey). This tune is so gnarly! Before the head out, Kurt and Eric played their ostinato licks behind Faulkner while he CRUSHED the entire place. One of the nastiest, fiercest drums solos I've heard in my life. I was sitting about 3 feet away from him, honestly kind of concerned that I might get hit in the face if he lost a stick. I could just listen to that kid comp swing by himself for hours, his feel is so great. Anyone who gets to see this group is in for a treat.

Set 1:
I Need To Know
Homage a Mitch
Spirit Kiss
A Shifting Design
Db major 3/4 (or was it "III-IV" ? I wasn't paying attention to the chords or meter)
Gama Band

Set 2:
Kurt #1 (aka Untitled)
Deja Vu
Mr. Hope
Under It All
Star of Jupiter

I'll remember this gig as the one they suspended midterms at Berklee for so everyone could come out and attend. Not only that, but they set the city on fire and turned out the power to get people into the light of Cambridge.
Kurt sets the bar every time he writes, on paper or in real time. Always telling a story of the moment and of the times.

An auspicious way to mark "the great Boston blackout of 2012" -one for the books.
I exited the bus to a blacked out Back Bay, but down the street Wally's was in full swing. Dang! If the guys hadn't been prepping for an early flight maybe somebody at the jam there could've used a drummer...
David

Hey guys, I'm always curious about the reasons why people record, what they are hoping to get, what they expect.
I'm very curious about people collecting live performances. Do you trade them?
If you got a recording and it changed the way you remembered it, would you regret it?
If you had a recording and when you listened, say it was all drums with a little echo-ey guitar you could kinda hear, would that be useful?
Do you transcribe from recordings? If so, why?
On that topic, if you could, would it be your goal to be able to play like Kurt?
If you noticed that you were starting to sound like Kurt, would you stop for fear that something of your own identity was being subsumed?
What do you get from a live recording if it's poorly recorded-it was from a voice transcriber tucked in a backpack that has a lot of movement noise-for instance, or if on repeated listenings it seems that they were having a bad night. Would it change the way you remembered it?
I'd really like to know, thanks.
David

i enjoy hearing live jazz recordings because you get to hear the artists really "going for it". there are many times where you buy a studio recording and it's nice but it's not a totally accurate picture of the scope of the musician. a great case in point are those first few mike stern cd's. they are very nice recordings and mike sounds good on them but the first time i saw him live he ripped my face off! haha. it was nothing like the cd's that i had heard. another case in point are those more funk oriented scofield recordings (groove elation, bump and a-go-go). sco sounds good on those recordings but those tunes really came to life if you saw those bands live.

so often a musician has to consider the length of the tunes (due to radio play and the overall length of a compact disc) and many artists edit themselves in the studio and play it safe somewhat. live, it's a different story. there's really not much consideration in how long your solo will be- you play until you're finished saying what you have to say. also, it's cool to hear a musician go for something and not play what they were going for. you get to hear them deal with the "mistake" they made and use it to inspire a different avenue in their improvisation.

^
another thing i just thought of is that there are tunes that some musicians only play live. for instance, i have an amazing live version of the steve swallow tune "eiderdown" (a tune that i love to play) played by steve swallow, chris potter, and adam nussbaum. thankfully someone recorded it because that trio has never released a studio recording of that song and it's absolutely burning!

There is one live record I have that was produced and released, and the musicians knew they were being recorded. I don't particularly like the album. I have a bootleg of the same songs, from the same tour, on a different night and the music was UNREAL... a totally different level compared to the album they put out.

Well it would be great to have a high quality multi-track to chronicle a tour, pick out performances the guys thought were good, put them up on the site for supported download. Well Kurt and Anders, the lottery numbers come up tonight, we'll see if I can afford to volunteer my services to this end ;).
Still curious about what anyone thinks of poor quality bootlegs.
David